Diamanda Galás At Culturgest: The Liturgy Of A Voice That Portugal Conquered

If there is one thing Lisbon loves, it is a cult—and last Wednesday Culturgest became the temple of a congregation that had not gathered there to “listen to music,” but to be pierced by it. With the venue completely sold out, Diamanda Galás’s return to Portugal unfolded as a roughly hour-long liturgy that left everyone in a collective trance, somewhere between prayer and exorcism.

Forget the notion of a conventional concert. Galás, with that voice that moves between a scream and the deepest modulation, transformed the stage into a space of ritual and catharsis.

When the lights went down, the silence was already dense, charged with an anticipation that only rare figures can summon. At the centre of the stage, the artist performed entirely alone at the piano, beneath a lighting and scenic design by Valentin Delaunay in which the dim illumination served only to intensify the trance-like atmosphere that took hold of the hall. Diamanda Galás—the woman who does not simply sing: she invokes, exorcises, and transforms pain into sonic matter.

The programme unfolded as a descent into the inferno with style: she opened with the rawness of “Pyrenees” and moved through dense pieces such as “Nausée” and “Artemis.” It was precisely midway through this journey, when the intensity seemed to have reached its limit, that something exceedingly rare occurred. Diamanda, known for her almost sacred detachment, lowered her guard, looked out at the audience, and let slip the phrase of the night: “Portugal has conquered my heart.”

This was no empty declaration from a touring artist. Galás’s connection to Portugal has deep roots, sealed in 2022 with the sound installation Broken Gargoyles. Choosing the Chapel of São Bento at the Monastery of Tibães in Braga to evoke the suffering and isolation of disfigured First World War soldiers revealed a unique emotional affinity with this country and with its spaces of memory and pain.

Those familiar with the artist know that nothing with Diamanda is ever guaranteed: one never knows whether she will return for an encore or whether the final silence will be definitive. But this night was different. Perhaps moved by that conquered heart, she returned to the stage twice, offering us a little more of herself each time. On her first return, she unleashed the force of “Let My People Go”; on the second, she enveloped us in the sombre beauty of “Gloomy Sunday,” sealing an unrepeatable night.

Lisbon has already surrendered to the tremor. Now the ritual moves north. Diamanda Galás performs on 4 February at Theatro Circo in Braga and on 18 February at Casa da Música.

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